File size = 36 MB
OS = window xp / vista / 7 / 8
Updated Device Performance Certification, New Benchmarks, Windows 8.1 support
London, UK, November 25th 2013 - We are pleased to announce the launch of SiSoftware Sandra 2014, the latest version of our award-winning utility, which includes remote analysis, benchmarking and diagnostic features for PCs, servers, mobile devices and networks.
While Sandra has been updated for the brand-new Windows 8.1 / Server 2012/R2 operating systems, we have not forgotten Windows 7, Vista or even XP* users - all new features and enhancements are supported on all operating systems.
As SiSoftware operates a "just-in-time" release cycle, some features were introduced in Sandra 2013 service packs: in Sandra 2014 they have been updated and enhanced based on all the feedback received.
Here is an in-depth new feature list of Sandra 2014:
 | Broad Operating System Support |
- Enhanced for Windows 8.1 / Server 2012/R2 Desktop mode using the latest API.
- New theme for Windows 8.1 / 8 with high-DPI support (200% 192ppi) 256x256 pixels icons.
- Full support for Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP* as well as Server 2008/R2 and Server 2003/R2.
- Updated hardware support for both current and future hardware
 | Updated Device Performance Certification* |
Device Performance Certification validates whether the benchmark result (score) you have obtained upon benchmarking your device is valid (i.e. the device you tested is performing correctly) and how it compares to the scores obtained by other users when testing the same device.
By aggregating the results submitted for each device and performing statistical analysis (e.g. computing mean/average, standard deviation, etc.) we can use statistical tools to work out whether the score is within the expected range (confidence intervals).
Based on the variability of scores you can determine whether the performance of your device is consistent or varies significantly from test to test.
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 | New GP / HC (GPU/APU/CPU) Scientific Analysis benchmark |
Tests the performance of the three (3) common algorithms used in scientific analysis but are also used in many applications:
- General Matrix Multiply (GEMM)
- Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
- N-Body Simulation (NBDY)
Multiple floating-point precisions:
- Normal precision - FP32 (32-bit floating point)
- High precision - FP64 (64-bit floating point)
Multiple interfaces:
- CUDA 5.0+
- OpenCL 1.x+
- DirectX ComputeShader 11.x support coming soon*
We have published an article on the scientific analysis performance of current (GP)GPU architectures: GP Scientific Analysis.
 | New CPU Scientific Analysis benchmark |
Tests the performance of the three (3) common algorithms used in scientific analysis but are also used in many applications:
- General Matrix Multiply (GEMM)
- Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
- N-Body Simulation (NBDY)
Multiple floating-point precisions:
- Normal precision - FP32 (32-bit floating point)
- High precision - FP64 (64-bit floating point)
Multiple instruction sets:
- SSE2, SSE3
- AVX, FMA
 | Updated GP / HC (GPU/APU/CPU) Financial Analysis benchmark |
Tests the performance of the three (3) standard financial models (options pricing); different models are used in organised option trading to determine their future worth (e.g. price at expiration date / "strike" price) and thus their worth:
- Binomial Option Pricing (European Model)
- Black-Scholes Option Pricing (European Model)
- Monte Carlo Option Pricing (European Model)
- Monte Carlo Option Pricing (Asian Model)*
Multiple floating-point precisions:
- Normal precision - FP32 (32-bit floating point)
- High precision - FP64 (64-bit floating point)
Multiple interfaces:
- CUDA 5.0+
- OpenCL 1.x+
- DirectX ComputeShader 11.x [new]
We have published an article on the financial analysis performance of current (GP)GPU architectures: GP Financial Analysis.
 | Updated Overall Score (2014) benchmark for complete system performance evaluation |
While each benchmark measures the performance of a specific device (CPU, Memory, (GP)GPU, Storage, etc.), there is a real need for a benchmark to evaluate the overall computer performance: this new benchmark is a weighted average of the individual scores of the existing benchmarks:
- Native CPU Arithmetic, Cryptographic and Multi-Media (SIMD): measures native processor performance
- .Net/Java Arithmetic and Multi-Media (vectorised): measures software virtual machine performance (e.g. for .Net WPF/Silverlight/METRO applications)
- Memory and Cache Bandwidth and Latency: measures memory and caches performance
- File System/Storage Bandwidth and I/O: measures storage performance
- GP (General Processing) / HC (Heterogonous Compute) (GPU/APU) Arithmetic, Financial Analysis [new] and Bandwidth: measures (GP)GPU/APU performance
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 | Memory Latency benchmark: code/instruction cache latencies |
Modern processors have dedicated cache sub-systems (e.g. L1I, L2I) to handle code/instructions that, while just as important as data caches, are not assessed by most benchmarks.
Sandra 2013 adds a brand new benchmark using its 3 dedicated access patterns ("in-page" thus avoiding "out-of-page" latencies, "full random" and "linear/sequential") to fully test code caches performance.
We have published an article on the cache latencies of current CPU architectures: Measuring Cache and Memory Latency (access patters, paging and TLBs).
| Brand new style for Windows 8.1 |
Windows 8.1 has its own style (ex-Metro) that it shares with Windows Phone 8.x. Love it or hate it, it is here to stay. We have also provided Windows 7, Vista and XP* users with an updated, modern style:
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 | Price Engine: invaluable |
Why? The Price engine enhances the user's experience by providing product pictures and additional specifications - as well as the the latest price. It enables the calculation of important metrics like Performance vs. Price and Capacity vs. Price (for storage media) which are extremely useful when making comparisons. All this is done automatically rather than manually searching for pricing, a great time saver.
Key features of Sandra 2014
- 3 native architectures support (x86, x64, ARM, MIPS).
- Huge official hardware support through technology partners (Intel, AMD/ATI, SiS, VIA).
- 3 native (GP)GPU/APU platforms support (OpenCL, DirectX Compute Shader, CUDA).
- 4 native Graphics platforms support (DirectX 11.x, DirectX 10.x, DirectX 9, OpenGL 2.0+).
- 9 language versions (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional, Simplified), Russian) in a single installer.
- Enhanced Sandra Lite (Eval) version (free for personal/educational use, evaluation for other uses)
Relevant Articles
For more details, please see the following articles.
Purchasing
For more details, and to purchase the commercial versions,
Updating or Upgrading
To update your existing commercial version,
Downloading
For more details, and to download the Lite (Eval) version,
Reviewers and Editors
For your free review copies,
About SiSoftware
SiSoftware, founded in 1995, is one of the leading providers of computer analysis, diagnostic and benchmarking software. The flagship product, known as "SANDRA", was launched in 1997 and has become one of the most widely used products in its field. Nearly 700 worldwide IT publications, magazines and review sites use SANDRA to analyse the performance of today's computers. Over 9,000 on-line reviews of computer hardware that use SANDRA are catalogued on our website alone.
Since launch, SiSoftware has always been at the forefront of the technology arena, being among the first providers of benchmarks that show the power of emerging new technologies such as multi-core, GPGPU, OpenCL, DirectCompute, x64, ARM, MIPS, NUMA, SMT (Hyper-Threading), SMP (multi-threading), AVX3, AVX2, AVX, FMA4, FMA, NEON, SSE4.2, SSE4.1, SSSE3, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, Java and .NET.
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